So, I've binged quite a few series these past few months, so I've got quite a few :D I also read 3-gatsu no Lion and Kaguya-sama but I kinda talked about it through the anime post so I won't bother repeating what I said~ I'd recommend them as well for sure though!
5-toubun no Hanayome (The Quintessential Quintuplets)
by Negi Haruba
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shounen, Harem
Status: Ongoing, 81 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7/10
I'm not sure whether I'm so fond of harem because when I first step foot into the world of anime, I mainly read/watched harem stuff, so I'm quite partial and nostalgic with then, or maybe I just love the idea of people trying their best to win the affections of one person haha. Anyway, a recent popular one would have to be this quintuplets one. I watched the anime first and it was pretty meh kinda average, but there is a S2 coming and I think from the manga, it's worth a shot. The story is not bad but not great, I'd say the best thing about it is the waifu wars the commenters create loll. Anywho, the story revolves around Fuutarou, the poor but smart guy that focuses on his studies and has no friends. Due to his family's financial situation, he landed a job to be the tutor for the daughters of a rich family, but he didn't realise a few things, and that is that they all suck at studying, they're all quintuplets and that they all have no motivation to study either! But he's gotta do it for the money, so he persists and tries his best to get them all to improve their grades, and along the way the girls can't help but be romantically enamoured by him I guess? LOL
Plot is very simple and straightforward, one guy tutoring five girls to make them improve their grades and not fail school. I guess the appeal would have to be the variety of the sisters and how they are different and yet the same. They fight with each other but make up all the time because they know that what's most important is each other. I think one thing that really grips readers is that the ending is shown at the beginning of the story, which is that Fuutarou is marrying one of the quintuplets (although there are thoughts that with the amount of dresses shown, it could still be a harem ending haha), so we can be more assured that someone will be chosen for sure. A good thing is that there aren't many ecchi moments to over saturate the plot with, and Fuutarou isn't the super nice guy that most harem protagonists are. He's still nice of course, but he also has some spunk and he would communicate with them properly. I guess everyone just feels real to their personality and I enjoy that. It's definitely one of the few harem stories to actually concentrate on properly delving into the romance as the main focus and everything else like comedy is more on the side, so it actually does feel like a romance manga where everyone is improving themselves and working towards a romance with the person that they like. Overall, I think you'd enjoy it if you want a harem that mainly focuses on romance and isn't deterred by comedy and episodic chapters.
(Girls and my ship) With the many followings of each girl, I have to say that I was initially on the Ichika ship (her voice and design is so beautiful in the anime), but I think in the end, my favourites would be Yotsuba and then Miku. I'd say that in terms of character development and screentime to this point, Nino and Miku are the ones who hog most of it, so it can be saddening if you're a fan of Itsuki or Yotsuba since they do have moments but it's not as focused on them imo. Everyone seems to like Nino because of how forward she is and everyone seems to love Miku because of how sweet and precious she is even though she's very shy, but she does have her moments where she overcomes that so it's rather endearing. Ichika is supposedly the mature one but she gets kind of childish and overboard so I can't support her character anymore even though I can see why she did it lol, whereas Yotsuba seems to be the one that just wants everyone to be happy. I think I like Yotsuba the most because I align with her thoughts the most, or what I think her thoughts are anyway, I feel like she doesn't want to be a part of the war for the guy because she wants everyone to be happy, so she'd rather hide her feelings to keep everyone else from the agony of having every single sister as a rival lol. She's the energetic, kind one that always helps people no matter what and I love her for that. So if she loses, my ship will sink with her but I'm happy with that LOL.
P.S I am so glad that the author revised Miku's look from the oneshot because she looked sooo bland in it. On another note, I think I preferred Itsuki's look from the oneshot though, it's not that different but it kinda changed into the more generic look imo.
5-toubun no Hanayome (The Quintessential Quintuplets)
by Negi Haruba
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shounen, Harem
Status: Ongoing, 81 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7/10
I'm not sure whether I'm so fond of harem because when I first step foot into the world of anime, I mainly read/watched harem stuff, so I'm quite partial and nostalgic with then, or maybe I just love the idea of people trying their best to win the affections of one person haha. Anyway, a recent popular one would have to be this quintuplets one. I watched the anime first and it was pretty meh kinda average, but there is a S2 coming and I think from the manga, it's worth a shot. The story is not bad but not great, I'd say the best thing about it is the waifu wars the commenters create loll. Anywho, the story revolves around Fuutarou, the poor but smart guy that focuses on his studies and has no friends. Due to his family's financial situation, he landed a job to be the tutor for the daughters of a rich family, but he didn't realise a few things, and that is that they all suck at studying, they're all quintuplets and that they all have no motivation to study either! But he's gotta do it for the money, so he persists and tries his best to get them all to improve their grades, and along the way the girls can't help but be romantically enamoured by him I guess? LOL
Plot is very simple and straightforward, one guy tutoring five girls to make them improve their grades and not fail school. I guess the appeal would have to be the variety of the sisters and how they are different and yet the same. They fight with each other but make up all the time because they know that what's most important is each other. I think one thing that really grips readers is that the ending is shown at the beginning of the story, which is that Fuutarou is marrying one of the quintuplets (although there are thoughts that with the amount of dresses shown, it could still be a harem ending haha), so we can be more assured that someone will be chosen for sure. A good thing is that there aren't many ecchi moments to over saturate the plot with, and Fuutarou isn't the super nice guy that most harem protagonists are. He's still nice of course, but he also has some spunk and he would communicate with them properly. I guess everyone just feels real to their personality and I enjoy that. It's definitely one of the few harem stories to actually concentrate on properly delving into the romance as the main focus and everything else like comedy is more on the side, so it actually does feel like a romance manga where everyone is improving themselves and working towards a romance with the person that they like. Overall, I think you'd enjoy it if you want a harem that mainly focuses on romance and isn't deterred by comedy and episodic chapters.
(Girls and my ship) With the many followings of each girl, I have to say that I was initially on the Ichika ship (her voice and design is so beautiful in the anime), but I think in the end, my favourites would be Yotsuba and then Miku. I'd say that in terms of character development and screentime to this point, Nino and Miku are the ones who hog most of it, so it can be saddening if you're a fan of Itsuki or Yotsuba since they do have moments but it's not as focused on them imo. Everyone seems to like Nino because of how forward she is and everyone seems to love Miku because of how sweet and precious she is even though she's very shy, but she does have her moments where she overcomes that so it's rather endearing. Ichika is supposedly the mature one but she gets kind of childish and overboard so I can't support her character anymore even though I can see why she did it lol, whereas Yotsuba seems to be the one that just wants everyone to be happy. I think I like Yotsuba the most because I align with her thoughts the most, or what I think her thoughts are anyway, I feel like she doesn't want to be a part of the war for the guy because she wants everyone to be happy, so she'd rather hide her feelings to keep everyone else from the agony of having every single sister as a rival lol. She's the energetic, kind one that always helps people no matter what and I love her for that. So if she loses, my ship will sink with her but I'm happy with that LOL.
P.S I am so glad that the author revised Miku's look from the oneshot because she looked sooo bland in it. On another note, I think I preferred Itsuki's look from the oneshot though, it's not that different but it kinda changed into the more generic look imo.
Solo Leveling
by Gee So-Lyung and art by Redice (Jang Sung-Lak) & Akira Rei
Genre: Shounen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Status: Ongoing, 74 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7/10
Honestly, I have to admit that I found the first 30-40 chapters quite boring, uninteresting and quite a drag lol. Our MC Sung Jin-Woo was quite edgy, bland and tbh he still kinda is but the plot definitely became much more interesting after he changed classes. The chapters before it took me a while to get through mainly because there were no other characters that were potentially interesting or important besides the MC and for me, the MC couldn't carry the story with how bland they both were. However, afterwards, it gets a bit more interesting with how the potential for the MC to grow in his powers and world expands. It's still not the greatest, but I think the art definitely makes up for the story a lot of the time. Anyway, story revolves around MC who is the lowest rank "hunter" that can venture into these portals where monsters lie. Hunting monsters and defeating the boss in each of these portals to dungeons yields money for the group, and so our MC tries to feed his his family by doing so, even though he is extremely weak, gets injured easily and is teased by everyone around him because of that. One day, he gets through a tough dungeon, kinda through his death (this dungeon was nearly unbearable to read for me lol) and gets a new set of powers that makes him be able to get stronger and not be stuck on the lowest rank, and his journey kinda starts from there. It's basically the growth of a weak MC to an OP one tbh, pretty cliche but also pretty fun.
As I said before, story-wise, it isn't very amazing, but the art makes up for it with how vibrant and beautiful it gets. Initially, it wasn't very mind-blowing, but the art definitely gets better or maybe there's just better stuff to draw after lol. It's an easy read that is quite fun if you're interested in seeing an MC grow more and more powerful as he acquires abilities and improves on them to obtain a better life for his family. In a sense, I'd say it's kinda similar to The Gamer where the fascination isn't really in the story, but in what kind of abilities the MC gets, how he can improve on it, how can he make it even more OP and how will he fend against other monsters and humans kinda story. It's fun, it's pretty and quite nice to read~ I wouldn't say there's much character development or even any characters that are important besides the MC right now though lol, so definitely just read it for the nice effects of his abilities and the potential of it all imo.
by Gee So-Lyung and art by Redice (Jang Sung-Lak) & Akira Rei
Genre: Shounen, Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Status: Ongoing, 74 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7/10
Honestly, I have to admit that I found the first 30-40 chapters quite boring, uninteresting and quite a drag lol. Our MC Sung Jin-Woo was quite edgy, bland and tbh he still kinda is but the plot definitely became much more interesting after he changed classes. The chapters before it took me a while to get through mainly because there were no other characters that were potentially interesting or important besides the MC and for me, the MC couldn't carry the story with how bland they both were. However, afterwards, it gets a bit more interesting with how the potential for the MC to grow in his powers and world expands. It's still not the greatest, but I think the art definitely makes up for the story a lot of the time. Anyway, story revolves around MC who is the lowest rank "hunter" that can venture into these portals where monsters lie. Hunting monsters and defeating the boss in each of these portals to dungeons yields money for the group, and so our MC tries to feed his his family by doing so, even though he is extremely weak, gets injured easily and is teased by everyone around him because of that. One day, he gets through a tough dungeon, kinda through his death (this dungeon was nearly unbearable to read for me lol) and gets a new set of powers that makes him be able to get stronger and not be stuck on the lowest rank, and his journey kinda starts from there. It's basically the growth of a weak MC to an OP one tbh, pretty cliche but also pretty fun.
As I said before, story-wise, it isn't very amazing, but the art makes up for it with how vibrant and beautiful it gets. Initially, it wasn't very mind-blowing, but the art definitely gets better or maybe there's just better stuff to draw after lol. It's an easy read that is quite fun if you're interested in seeing an MC grow more and more powerful as he acquires abilities and improves on them to obtain a better life for his family. In a sense, I'd say it's kinda similar to The Gamer where the fascination isn't really in the story, but in what kind of abilities the MC gets, how he can improve on it, how can he make it even more OP and how will he fend against other monsters and humans kinda story. It's fun, it's pretty and quite nice to read~ I wouldn't say there's much character development or even any characters that are important besides the MC right now though lol, so definitely just read it for the nice effects of his abilities and the potential of it all imo.
Kusuriya no Hitorigoto
by Hyuuga Natsu and Nanao Ikki, art by Nekokurage
Genre: Drama, Historical, Seinen, Mystery, Romance, Slice of Life
Status: Ongoing, 25 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10
I really enjoy reading this one!~ It's unique, it's funny, it's sweet and it's interesting. The story takes place in the palace of the imperial court, where our MC Maomao has been put into servitude. Then she just kinda struts along through the story as a strong minded, smart and kinda crazy girl that everyone, whether it be the concubines or the officials, they can't help but be interested in her and get her help in solving many strange cases that happen around them. In terms of the plot, I'd say that it isn't clear (and there aren't many chapters) whether it really wants to just document the progress of Maomao's adventures with medicine (since she's kinda like a pharmacist) or whether they are building to something deeper with the romantic interest that seems to be quite taken with her, even though she doesn't notice since her one track mind only cares about taking different poisons and learning about them loll. I think Maomao makes the story much more appealing with how her attitude and personality is, she's unafraid to do what she wants and undeterred by others in pursuing her interests. Although I guess the guy does stop her (for a good reason) haha. Maomao is also a very situationally aware kinda person, she understands her surroundings well, she can deduce how people may think and she accordingly acts, and I think that makes her so likeable.
The cases she becomes involved in are also quite fun because it delves into learning about some medicine related properties and poisons, but it also takes the story further by showing through these cases how difficult it can be to live in the imperial court. However, amongst all this, Maomao stands out as interesting because she has no interest in gaining more power or to submit to her place, she just kinda aims to survive and does what she can to keep herself in her place to continue her experiments haha. She's very fun to follow and I would recommend reading this for her :D
by Hyuuga Natsu and Nanao Ikki, art by Nekokurage
Genre: Drama, Historical, Seinen, Mystery, Romance, Slice of Life
Status: Ongoing, 25 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10
I really enjoy reading this one!~ It's unique, it's funny, it's sweet and it's interesting. The story takes place in the palace of the imperial court, where our MC Maomao has been put into servitude. Then she just kinda struts along through the story as a strong minded, smart and kinda crazy girl that everyone, whether it be the concubines or the officials, they can't help but be interested in her and get her help in solving many strange cases that happen around them. In terms of the plot, I'd say that it isn't clear (and there aren't many chapters) whether it really wants to just document the progress of Maomao's adventures with medicine (since she's kinda like a pharmacist) or whether they are building to something deeper with the romantic interest that seems to be quite taken with her, even though she doesn't notice since her one track mind only cares about taking different poisons and learning about them loll. I think Maomao makes the story much more appealing with how her attitude and personality is, she's unafraid to do what she wants and undeterred by others in pursuing her interests. Although I guess the guy does stop her (for a good reason) haha. Maomao is also a very situationally aware kinda person, she understands her surroundings well, she can deduce how people may think and she accordingly acts, and I think that makes her so likeable.
The cases she becomes involved in are also quite fun because it delves into learning about some medicine related properties and poisons, but it also takes the story further by showing through these cases how difficult it can be to live in the imperial court. However, amongst all this, Maomao stands out as interesting because she has no interest in gaining more power or to submit to her place, she just kinda aims to survive and does what she can to keep herself in her place to continue her experiments haha. She's very fun to follow and I would recommend reading this for her :D
Otome game no Hametsu Flag shika nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shite shimatta... (I Reincarnated into an Otome Game as a Villainess with only Destruction Flags...)
by Yamaguchi Satoru, art by Hidaka Nami
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Harem, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Status: Ongoing, 17 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 8/10
Recently, I realised that the isekai types of novels have really expanded! There's been this new flourish of isekai novels where the girl is reincarnated into otome games as the villainess and this is probably my favourite one! It's getting an anime soon and I'm so happy about that! It's such a funny and lighthearted story, I love it! I think the comedy is great and the art and the flow of the story really enhances the comedy. It really knows when to make them chibi with funny faces and the serious faces, it's amazing! The story starts with the MC being an average 17 year old that loves to play otome games having been killed due to a traffic accident (truck-kun probably), and she recovers memories of this past life of hers when she hits her head as the 8 year old Katarina Claes. She soon realises that this is the world of the otome game she was playing before her death, and that Katarina is actually the rival character of the heroine in that game! But what's worse is that after articulating her thoughts and confirming that this is the world of that game, she realises that most of the endings with the romantic interests in the game end up with her being exiled or killed since her character always tried to sabotage things for the heroine. Therefore, she decides that in order to avoid all these flags to destruction, she will improve her skills in swords and magic (since she gets killed by them) and due to her silliness, she kinda ends up picking up skills on vegetable gardening so that she can at least be a farmer one day if she were to be exiled LOL. I think the funniest thing is how much she actually enjoys gardening though hahahah.
I love how whenever Bakarina (Katarina's nickname b/c she's silly) thinks about how to avoid the destruction flags, she always has a round table meeting with copies of herself to discuss what the best course of action is, it's even more hilarious since they're all silly versions of herself hahaha. It's also hilarious how she's surrounded by people who love her and yet she doesn't even know! A harem of guys and girls too hahaha! I think a lot of people think her cluelessness to her harem is kinda OTT stupid, but I honestly enjoy it since the manga never really takes itself seriously (although the recent chapters seem to) and the highlight always revolves around Katarina being who she is, and I like that. I don't know if any of the guys will actually win considering that her mental age at the time she was 8 with her previous life memories probably makes it hard for her to even fathom having a romantic relationship with them since she probably always viewed them as kids. It doesn't help that she thinks of it all as the otome game, so who would fall in love with game characters? Otherwise, it's a really fun, carefree and happy comedy that really puts a smile on my face every time I read it hahaha (yes I read it twice lol).
They Say I was Born a King's Daughter
by Bi Chu, art by Kim Legna
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Josei, Romance
Status: Ongoing, 138 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10
I read this on a whim because it was one of the most popular manga on a site. Surprisingly, I liked it much more than I thought I would! It starts off with the MC killed by a sort of stalker guy as she regrets the fact that she never really got to tell her boyfriend Jinsu how much she really loved him. She is then reincarnated into another world as a baby princess with all her memories intact. As she rests in her baby cot unable to talk, she learns through the people around her and their attitudes that she is a princess, and that this is a misogynistic society where women are treated unfairly and with extreme prejudice. Basically, they're treated like crap because most of them are unable to use any powers whilst most men can, so they're like treated as the bottom of the food chain and no one cares about them. At the sight of this, Sanghee decides that she will change the treatment towards women in this world. In order to achieve this, she recognises that she must make her brothers and her father acknowledge her presence, so during her growth from baby to a young child, she sucked up to them, she acted cute to them and she suffered much humiliation but she persevered, and it's actually come to the point that her father and her brothers absolutely adore her and would do anything to protect her, and yet she's actually quite clueless to the extent of their love for her. Tbh, I might have described it in a kinda serious and dark way (but I guess it kinda is for all the women outside the castle), but the way Sanghee manipulates her brothers etc to do her bidding is actually quite funny and endearing, especially when the brothers soften up.
I really like the pacing of the story because it gives appropriate time to the heroine and the characters growing up. It starts the story from her being a baby and now she is a teenager. I think the part when she's a child is the best, because shes's sooo cute and adorable, and she knows it. She knows what her brothers are like and she knows how she can appeal to them, and this is the same with her father. It's just so cute, funny and sweet to see how everyone's attitudes towards her changes gradually and how they're not honest about it at all, but nevertheless, they care about her way too much hahaha. I think it's great to see all that unfold as she continues to think about how she can help change the lives of all women. I thought I'd like the male love interest since it's basically Jinsu from her previous life for some reason, but I think he's rather bland, so I'm not too fond of the romance. It also seems to finally start delving more into how she can change the world and everyone's perspectives towards women for the better, but it's still kinda at an infant stage so don't expect too much in that area, since she's essentially still rather powerless as a woman herself, even if she is loved by the men in her family.
Overall, definitely an enjoyable story if you can look over the misogynistic values in jest and in the face that things will change (slowly but gradually) since it really interweaves comedy and adorableness in one hahaha.
Eden no Ori (Cage of Eden)
by Yamada Yoshinobu
Genre: Action, Adventure, Ecchi, Fantasy, Shounen
Status: Completed, 185 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10
Cage of Eden will always have a special place in my heart. I recently read it again and I think my feelings haven't changed haha. I still thought it was interesting and engaging even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen. There are flaws, but I guess the biggest problem that many at the time were dissatisfied with, was the ending. The manga was axed so the last few chapters tried to squash in things without really being able to elaborate on everything I would have liked to know about, especially with that masked guy that seemed to follow alongside Kouhei etc. Anyway, the story begins with Akira on a plane trip back to Japan with his class, when the plane somehow crashes and he is lost in a jungle. As he struggles to find his other friends, he finds the genius smart computer guy and a flight attendant being attacked by a mysterious gigantic monster, and saves them with his quick wits and bravery. As they party up together to find the others, they find the plane deserted for some reason until he finds the recording of what happened after he had been thrown into the jungle by himself. The story revolves around the survival on an unknown island kinda plot, with the teenagers encountering extinct animals after another, whilst having to deal with the depravity of his classmates and others on the plane as they try to unravel the mystery of this island.
Honestly, the "mystery" of the island wasn't hard to figure out, which is why I appreciated the ending focusing on "why" this island came about instead, since the story pretty much roughly explained the "how". It's not anything groundbreaking but the manga does kinda overplay the shock factor as the story goes on, but I still liked it because I guess I liked following the characters on this journey to discovering it all, even if the ending did kind of undermine the journey a bit.. As for the characters, I'd say that, as usual for a lot of shounen, do not put hope into your female characters, they're very two dimensional. They're either there as fanservice, the "kind" characters that help the guys to find good in the bad situations, or they're there as fighters but really, nothing else. Although, I do have to admit that a lot of the characters don't really get the fleshing out that they deserve, but they do play their roles well. Akira is the leader that questions whether he can really be one, yet exerts the capabilities to act when needed and to care for everyone without prejudice. Mariya is the smart guy that is well versed with computers and remembers the animals from the encyclopedia that's on his laptop. Yarai is the other leader in the class that is like the lone wolf that is super OP that can take care of himself and protect the women following him. So really, I found watching them as they ventured on this journey, meeting the different people trying to survive, how they reacted to surviving and how they dealt with the "monsters" rather fun, but I wouldn't expect a lot from their characters. Art was great in terms of the extinct animals, very nice~
Overall, I'd say that if you read it as it is and just going along with the journey, you'd enjoy it much more than if you expected something mindbreaking about it lol. I enjoyed the ride and thought it was nice here and there but I did think it was a missed opportunity to not give the characters more...character? Hahaha. But as I said, they played their roles throughout the story well and I liked it as a chill sort of survival manga, because it can get you nervous/anxious for some situations (more in the beginning than later on) but everything mostly turns out fine. So, don't really look to this manga if you want a lot of deaths involving people you care about through the story, but more so for the adventure and seeing how the MC deals with different situations that could occur on a deserted island where they can't find external help.
My Dear Cold-Blooded King
by lifelight
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Mystery (imo b/c I can't find tags lol)
Status: Ongoing, 103 chapters scanlated (LINE Webtoon)
My Rating: 7.5/10
My latest favourite on LINE Webtoons! It has really beautiful art, and it knows it, which just makes the story (and the guys <3 and the girlll too!) so much more captivating. A lot of the scenes look beautifully artistic and it's hard to not be mesmerised haha. The story revolves around Mei, who was a merchant in town that couldn't help but butt her head into other people's business to protect the weak (since it's her personality) and she does have some skills to show for it. However, one day, she gets caught up in royal assassins and saves someone important. She is then "invited" to work in the kingdom helping out the physician, but as she stays there longer, she meets two men, Ryusaki and Katsu, who end up invading in her life as she finds it difficult to understand who she is really beginning to fall in love with. The constant overarching plot revolves around the idea of who the cold blooded king really is, why this "system" works and how everyone seems to try to protect the kingdom, and yet be straddled with so many internal and external problems with themselves, the people around them and the people against the king etc. There is also the mystery surrounding her brother that could only seem to be unravelled with her staying in the kingdom to solicit more information, and the mysterious red headed guy that is intent on capturing her. So with all these intersecting plot lines of romance and mystery, you can't help but want to turn the page to see what's in store and what Mei will discover in this chapter haha.
I really enjoy how the story goes. It's fun, sweet, enrapturing, mysterious but also quite funny! Ryusaki is like the life of the party, he keeps teasing Mei and flirts with her, and Mei is not one to be toyed with, so she really stands her ground with all the guys and people. She's stubborn, sweet, strong (physically and emotionally) and also beautiful in heart and appearance. I can't help but enjoy how much stronger she gets and how she deals with the situations she gets in. Katsu on the other hand is a cold, hard to approach guy that is actually very sweet and cute, so it's quite difficult to really know whose the best guy for her (until the recent chapters anyway), but seeing how Mei interacts with the guys etc, you know where her heart belongs eventually. I think the story is quite engaging. interesting and is something worth looking forward to.
Overall, if you love your romance, some love triangle (?), beautiful men, a bit of action and mystery in the plot as it all spirals into something deeper (probably in terms of the true king etc), with a side of comedy then you'll really enjoy this! :D
by Yamaguchi Satoru, art by Hidaka Nami
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Harem, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life
Status: Ongoing, 17 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 8/10
Recently, I realised that the isekai types of novels have really expanded! There's been this new flourish of isekai novels where the girl is reincarnated into otome games as the villainess and this is probably my favourite one! It's getting an anime soon and I'm so happy about that! It's such a funny and lighthearted story, I love it! I think the comedy is great and the art and the flow of the story really enhances the comedy. It really knows when to make them chibi with funny faces and the serious faces, it's amazing! The story starts with the MC being an average 17 year old that loves to play otome games having been killed due to a traffic accident (truck-kun probably), and she recovers memories of this past life of hers when she hits her head as the 8 year old Katarina Claes. She soon realises that this is the world of the otome game she was playing before her death, and that Katarina is actually the rival character of the heroine in that game! But what's worse is that after articulating her thoughts and confirming that this is the world of that game, she realises that most of the endings with the romantic interests in the game end up with her being exiled or killed since her character always tried to sabotage things for the heroine. Therefore, she decides that in order to avoid all these flags to destruction, she will improve her skills in swords and magic (since she gets killed by them) and due to her silliness, she kinda ends up picking up skills on vegetable gardening so that she can at least be a farmer one day if she were to be exiled LOL. I think the funniest thing is how much she actually enjoys gardening though hahahah.
I love how whenever Bakarina (Katarina's nickname b/c she's silly) thinks about how to avoid the destruction flags, she always has a round table meeting with copies of herself to discuss what the best course of action is, it's even more hilarious since they're all silly versions of herself hahaha. It's also hilarious how she's surrounded by people who love her and yet she doesn't even know! A harem of guys and girls too hahaha! I think a lot of people think her cluelessness to her harem is kinda OTT stupid, but I honestly enjoy it since the manga never really takes itself seriously (although the recent chapters seem to) and the highlight always revolves around Katarina being who she is, and I like that. I don't know if any of the guys will actually win considering that her mental age at the time she was 8 with her previous life memories probably makes it hard for her to even fathom having a romantic relationship with them since she probably always viewed them as kids. It doesn't help that she thinks of it all as the otome game, so who would fall in love with game characters? Otherwise, it's a really fun, carefree and happy comedy that really puts a smile on my face every time I read it hahaha (yes I read it twice lol).
They Say I was Born a King's Daughter
by Bi Chu, art by Kim Legna
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Josei, Romance
Status: Ongoing, 138 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10
I read this on a whim because it was one of the most popular manga on a site. Surprisingly, I liked it much more than I thought I would! It starts off with the MC killed by a sort of stalker guy as she regrets the fact that she never really got to tell her boyfriend Jinsu how much she really loved him. She is then reincarnated into another world as a baby princess with all her memories intact. As she rests in her baby cot unable to talk, she learns through the people around her and their attitudes that she is a princess, and that this is a misogynistic society where women are treated unfairly and with extreme prejudice. Basically, they're treated like crap because most of them are unable to use any powers whilst most men can, so they're like treated as the bottom of the food chain and no one cares about them. At the sight of this, Sanghee decides that she will change the treatment towards women in this world. In order to achieve this, she recognises that she must make her brothers and her father acknowledge her presence, so during her growth from baby to a young child, she sucked up to them, she acted cute to them and she suffered much humiliation but she persevered, and it's actually come to the point that her father and her brothers absolutely adore her and would do anything to protect her, and yet she's actually quite clueless to the extent of their love for her. Tbh, I might have described it in a kinda serious and dark way (but I guess it kinda is for all the women outside the castle), but the way Sanghee manipulates her brothers etc to do her bidding is actually quite funny and endearing, especially when the brothers soften up.
I really like the pacing of the story because it gives appropriate time to the heroine and the characters growing up. It starts the story from her being a baby and now she is a teenager. I think the part when she's a child is the best, because shes's sooo cute and adorable, and she knows it. She knows what her brothers are like and she knows how she can appeal to them, and this is the same with her father. It's just so cute, funny and sweet to see how everyone's attitudes towards her changes gradually and how they're not honest about it at all, but nevertheless, they care about her way too much hahaha. I think it's great to see all that unfold as she continues to think about how she can help change the lives of all women. I thought I'd like the male love interest since it's basically Jinsu from her previous life for some reason, but I think he's rather bland, so I'm not too fond of the romance. It also seems to finally start delving more into how she can change the world and everyone's perspectives towards women for the better, but it's still kinda at an infant stage so don't expect too much in that area, since she's essentially still rather powerless as a woman herself, even if she is loved by the men in her family.
Overall, definitely an enjoyable story if you can look over the misogynistic values in jest and in the face that things will change (slowly but gradually) since it really interweaves comedy and adorableness in one hahaha.
Eden no Ori (Cage of Eden)
by Yamada Yoshinobu
Genre: Action, Adventure, Ecchi, Fantasy, Shounen
Status: Completed, 185 chapters scanlated
My Rating: 7.5/10
Cage of Eden will always have a special place in my heart. I recently read it again and I think my feelings haven't changed haha. I still thought it was interesting and engaging even though I pretty much knew what was going to happen. There are flaws, but I guess the biggest problem that many at the time were dissatisfied with, was the ending. The manga was axed so the last few chapters tried to squash in things without really being able to elaborate on everything I would have liked to know about, especially with that masked guy that seemed to follow alongside Kouhei etc. Anyway, the story begins with Akira on a plane trip back to Japan with his class, when the plane somehow crashes and he is lost in a jungle. As he struggles to find his other friends, he finds the genius smart computer guy and a flight attendant being attacked by a mysterious gigantic monster, and saves them with his quick wits and bravery. As they party up together to find the others, they find the plane deserted for some reason until he finds the recording of what happened after he had been thrown into the jungle by himself. The story revolves around the survival on an unknown island kinda plot, with the teenagers encountering extinct animals after another, whilst having to deal with the depravity of his classmates and others on the plane as they try to unravel the mystery of this island.
Honestly, the "mystery" of the island wasn't hard to figure out, which is why I appreciated the ending focusing on "why" this island came about instead, since the story pretty much roughly explained the "how". It's not anything groundbreaking but the manga does kinda overplay the shock factor as the story goes on, but I still liked it because I guess I liked following the characters on this journey to discovering it all, even if the ending did kind of undermine the journey a bit.. As for the characters, I'd say that, as usual for a lot of shounen, do not put hope into your female characters, they're very two dimensional. They're either there as fanservice, the "kind" characters that help the guys to find good in the bad situations, or they're there as fighters but really, nothing else. Although, I do have to admit that a lot of the characters don't really get the fleshing out that they deserve, but they do play their roles well. Akira is the leader that questions whether he can really be one, yet exerts the capabilities to act when needed and to care for everyone without prejudice. Mariya is the smart guy that is well versed with computers and remembers the animals from the encyclopedia that's on his laptop. Yarai is the other leader in the class that is like the lone wolf that is super OP that can take care of himself and protect the women following him. So really, I found watching them as they ventured on this journey, meeting the different people trying to survive, how they reacted to surviving and how they dealt with the "monsters" rather fun, but I wouldn't expect a lot from their characters. Art was great in terms of the extinct animals, very nice~
Overall, I'd say that if you read it as it is and just going along with the journey, you'd enjoy it much more than if you expected something mindbreaking about it lol. I enjoyed the ride and thought it was nice here and there but I did think it was a missed opportunity to not give the characters more...character? Hahaha. But as I said, they played their roles throughout the story well and I liked it as a chill sort of survival manga, because it can get you nervous/anxious for some situations (more in the beginning than later on) but everything mostly turns out fine. So, don't really look to this manga if you want a lot of deaths involving people you care about through the story, but more so for the adventure and seeing how the MC deals with different situations that could occur on a deserted island where they can't find external help.
My Dear Cold-Blooded King
by lifelight
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Mystery (imo b/c I can't find tags lol)
Status: Ongoing, 103 chapters scanlated (LINE Webtoon)
My Rating: 7.5/10
My latest favourite on LINE Webtoons! It has really beautiful art, and it knows it, which just makes the story (and the guys <3 and the girlll too!) so much more captivating. A lot of the scenes look beautifully artistic and it's hard to not be mesmerised haha. The story revolves around Mei, who was a merchant in town that couldn't help but butt her head into other people's business to protect the weak (since it's her personality) and she does have some skills to show for it. However, one day, she gets caught up in royal assassins and saves someone important. She is then "invited" to work in the kingdom helping out the physician, but as she stays there longer, she meets two men, Ryusaki and Katsu, who end up invading in her life as she finds it difficult to understand who she is really beginning to fall in love with. The constant overarching plot revolves around the idea of who the cold blooded king really is, why this "system" works and how everyone seems to try to protect the kingdom, and yet be straddled with so many internal and external problems with themselves, the people around them and the people against the king etc. There is also the mystery surrounding her brother that could only seem to be unravelled with her staying in the kingdom to solicit more information, and the mysterious red headed guy that is intent on capturing her. So with all these intersecting plot lines of romance and mystery, you can't help but want to turn the page to see what's in store and what Mei will discover in this chapter haha.
I really enjoy how the story goes. It's fun, sweet, enrapturing, mysterious but also quite funny! Ryusaki is like the life of the party, he keeps teasing Mei and flirts with her, and Mei is not one to be toyed with, so she really stands her ground with all the guys and people. She's stubborn, sweet, strong (physically and emotionally) and also beautiful in heart and appearance. I can't help but enjoy how much stronger she gets and how she deals with the situations she gets in. Katsu on the other hand is a cold, hard to approach guy that is actually very sweet and cute, so it's quite difficult to really know whose the best guy for her (until the recent chapters anyway), but seeing how Mei interacts with the guys etc, you know where her heart belongs eventually. I think the story is quite engaging. interesting and is something worth looking forward to.
Overall, if you love your romance, some love triangle (?), beautiful men, a bit of action and mystery in the plot as it all spirals into something deeper (probably in terms of the true king etc), with a side of comedy then you'll really enjoy this! :D
